Market Watch
1. Federal budget deficits/debt
Federal debt is now $11.5 trillion. Add $1.4 trillion this year. That's almost 100% of GDP.
2. Social Security unfunded debt
No longer a political "third rail," we have no choice: We must raise taxes, or cut benefits.
3. Medicare unfunded obligations
Unfunded after 2016, $65 trillion by 2041, consuming 100% of tax revenues by 2075.
4. Health care insurance liabilities
Costs rising at double the inflation rate, 47 million uninsured. Obama plans universal coverage of this mega-$2.5 trillion business. Can we trust insurers sudden offer to help?
5. Military/defense budget costs
Budget $662 billion. Add veterans affairs, Afghan, Iraq: $1.45 trillion 55% of budget.
6. Homeland insecurity risks
Ports, chemical plants, borders at risk. Black Swans are lurking; with unpredictable mega-buck consequences.
7. Real estate/mortgage losses
Global real estate from $40 trillion to $70 trillion in 5 years. Total global wealth lost since 2007, $50 trillion. U.S. mortgages shot from $7 trillion to $14 trillion in 8 years, now down $6 trillion, with 20% of homes worth less than the mortgage.
8. Peak oil and energy alternatives
Oil's soon declining. Extraction costs will exceed sale price. Nuclear energy cost: $75 trillion. Coal's dirty. Wind, biofuels: costly.
9. Cap and trade
Taxing fossil-fuel emissions will increase energy costs. But it won't change much. China won't stop. So population grows, with demand and global warming.
10. Foreign trade deficits
Annual deficits continue hovering around $600 billion. Foreigners buy 70% of our debt. Many convert to equity: Today foreigners own a net value of $2.5 trillion in America.
11. Corporate pensions
Two-thirds of them are underfunded. Taxpayers cover losses through the Pension Benefits Guarantee Corporation, also underfunded by $500 billion.
12. Local government pensions
Latest estimates of retiree benefits and health-care costs now called a "$2 trillion hole."
13. Weak U.S. dollar
U.S. foreign debt nearly equals our $15 trillion GDP; China's replacing dollar reserves.
14. Personal savings debt
We're consumers. Our savings rate dropped from 8% in 1980 to zero last year. Only 30% save enough to retire. And yet, economists warn increased savings would slow economic recovery. They want consumption.
15. Credit card and consumer debt
Consumer debt is now at $2.5 trillion. Personal bankruptcies are rising. Still, we're card addicts. And card companies are stealing from us.
16. Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac
They're owners of $5.5 trillion in mortgage debt, half the nation's total, with foreclosure rates at historic highs.
17. War on drugs
Drug addiction in America plus our misguided, unwinnable supply-side wars on drugs in Mexico, Afghanistan -- all over the globe -- costs hundreds of billions annually. Worse, our domestic demands are increasing the total costs.
18. Shadow banking system
The Fed and Treasury prefer secrecy with loans and credits now over $5 trillion. Auto and insurance companies now getting money.
19. Democracy by lobbyists
Forget socialism, capitalism, democracy: America is run by 42,000 lobbyists. It's "Washington's Biggest Business" controlling all politicians.
20. Class gap widening
CEO salaries vs. worker pay rose from 40:1 in 1980 to over 400:1 before the meltdown, while inflation-adjusted pay of workers fell.
21. International credibility
With friends and enemies, our war/torture was costly.
22. What did we miss? Resources, tech, educational, environment, jobs, you pick
There is so much I could say
5 years ago
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